A urinary bladder tube is used on patients who are unable to urinate. There are many causes of the inability to urinate. Frequently, surgery or other invasive procedures produce such an effect. Generally, the origin of such a condition differs with age and gender. For example, the inability to urinate in men is commonly caused by a blockage of the urethra passageway by an enlargening prostate. In females, the condition may occur after delivery of a baby. And, in small children, a congenital abnormality obstructing the bladder neck or urethra can produce the condition.
After major surgery, it is advantageous to continuously drain the bladder. Continuous drainage of the bladder is also preferred where medical conditions dictate the necessity of monitoring a patient's urine output. It is well known that close measurement of urine output provides a direct correlation to kidney functions and careful monitoring allows one to identify and prevent kidney failure.
It is important to drain the bladder by an indwelling catheter after prostate or bladder surgery. An indwelling Foley type catheter is usually the catheter of choice. U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,022 to Klapper et al and incorporated herein, shows an improvement over the Foley catheter by providing a second lumen for continuous delivery of a sterile irrigating solution directly into the bladder, and preventing any mixture with the main drainage lumen, thus avoiding any reintroduction of harmful bacteria into the bladder during irrigation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,162 issued to Rosenberg and incorporated herein, shows a Foley catheter with two lumens, one for drainage and one for inflation of the balloon. Having separate lumens for drainage and inflation is common in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,379, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a Foley catheter having a balloon portion and a lubricated resilient sleeve. U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,770, which is incorporated herein by reference, shows a dual lumen system and balloon Foley catheter for releasing a bactericidal agent. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,755 which is incorporated therein by reference, shows a Foley urinary catheter with a dual membrane delivery system that allows bactericidal agents to diffuse into the urinary tract.
One thing is clear in the prior art of Foley urinary catheters: none of them teach a collapsible device.
An indwelling catheter drains the bladder and diverts the urine from the wound. Moreover, the bladder can be either continuously irrigated with a three way Foley catheter or hand irrigated at discrete moments when desired. In the three way catheter, one port used is connected to a large fluid reservoir and the other port is used for drainage of the returned fluid. The speed of irrigation can be controlled by different mechanisms or different pumps.
In certain patients the bladder must be drained for many years, as in patients with spinal cord lesions. If the bladder is not drained, the pressure inside it will build up and obstruct the kidneys. Continuous kidney obstruction could end in renal failure and death in only a few weeks. Furthermore, the catheter is used to clear blockages and constrictions of the urinary tract.
Therefore, the use of indwelling catheter is very important and could be life saving.
However, there are many serious draw backs to the stiff indwelling catheter. First, it is painful and certain patients cannot tolerate the catheter. Second, a stiff hollow indwelling catheter invites micro-organisms to invade the bladder and kidneys which may cause a serious infection. Third, for patients who are unable to tolerate the stiff catheter, a hole in the bladder must be created to drain the bladder directly through the anterior abdominal wall. This is a serious procedure and exposes the patient to unnecessary risks of other complications.
Thus, it would be ideal if a Foley catheter was stiff enough to be introduced, but collapsed after insertion. The urethra is naturally in a state of collapse at rest. The present invention will mimic the urethra's physiological status. The pain or discomfort from an indwelling catheter will be reduced. In addition, the incidence of bladder or kidney infection is minimized.